Crime and Justice News

Next Supreme Court Gun Issue: Carrying Weapons in Public

December 15, 2012 09:00:00 am

The issue of whether people have a right to be armed in public is moving closer to Supreme Court review, reports the Associated Press. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit struck down the only statewide ban carrying concealed weapons, in Illinois. The ruling is somewhat at odds with other federal courts that have upheld state and local gun laws since the high court's ruling that people have a right to own a gun for self-defense.

The court left for another day how broadly the Second Amendment protects gun rights in other settings. "The next great question for the Supreme Court to decide was whether there is a right to carry guns in public," said UCLA law professor Adam Winkler, whose book "Gunfight" was published last year. Roughly 40 states make it easy for people to carry a gun in public. In California, New York and a few other states, local and state regulations make it difficult if not impossible to get a license to carry a weapon. Illinois and the District of Columbia have been the only places to refuse to allow people to be armed in public.